Nearly half of nursing home workers in New York have not received the COVID-19 vaccine – so the State Department of Health is putting more pressure on facilities to bridge the gap, The Post has learned.
The health department brass issued new guidelines late Thursday requiring nursing homes to provide the shot to all consenting residents and staff by April 29, and within two weeks of a new hiring or admission, records obtained by The Post show.
Both the staff and residents who opt out must sign paperwork to acknowledge that they refuse.
Facilities that fail to comply with the new rules can be penalized up to $ 2,000 per violation, according to the DOH.
“They’re trying to get people vaccinated and they’re trying to boost it,” said Michael Balboni, executive director of the Greater New York Health Care Facilities Association, of the new requirement.
Only 60 percent of workers in the statewide facilities have been given the chance since December – and only 56 percent of staff in the five boroughs have received the vaccine, the latest DOH vaccination figures show.
In comparison, 80 percent of residents of nursing homes statewide have been vaccinated and 73 percent in the city have received the shot.
“The residents aren’t the problem, it’s really the low vaccination rates among the staff,” Balboni said.
There are health workers who are afraid to take the vaccine, period. How do you convince them that this is in the best interest of themselves and their families? It’s something everyone is still trying to figure out. “
A DOH spokesman said the “emergency” regulations were necessary to ensure that no vaccines are wasted and that anyone who wants to get vaccinated can do so easily.
Nursing home operators have known all along that a COVID vaccine is one of the best ways to protect residents and staff from this dangerous virus, the spokesman wrote in a statement.
“Inexplicably, many nursing homes are leaving vaccine doses on the shelves, which is why DOH recently issued emergency regulations requiring nursing homes to allow all consenting, unvaccinated, existing and new staff and residents to be vaccinated.”
A nursing home official claimed the guidelines were released without sufficient consultation – and argued that they do not take into account the challenges institutions will face in complying with the rules.
“The problem is that nursing homes have a hard time getting the vaccine,” said the source.
The source said the 14-day rule will be difficult to follow because nursing homes depend on pharmacies, counties and other entities to make the doses available.
It’s also challenging for the facilities to access smaller amounts of the vaccine, which could lead to wastage, they noted.
“It’s just another example of this [the state] going out on your own without talking to someone who runs a nursing home, ‘the source complained.
The source said the recent exodus of DOH executives has exacerbated the problem and many of the state’s top health experts have left.
“There’s just a very lack of communication, this whole thing, why would you roll this out and never talk to the nursing homes?” they said.
The DOH said it had made numerous attempts to provide assistance to nursing homes in February and March and claimed some facilities were unresponsive.